Building Better Roster
While the move was professed to be a move to fit skillsets around a Joel Embiid focused team, the undercurrent was clearly a wake-up call by the 76ers to their rookie power forward. In fact, normally reserved head coach Brett Brown made it clear that even without eyes on Ilyasova, he considers the new power forward as the starter over Saric.
The #Sixers consider starting Ersan Ilyasova over Dario Saric at the four. Brown mentioned that Saric was thrown into the starting lineup.
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 1, 2016
Thrown indeed. Rookie Dario Saric arrived to the NBA after a grueling campaign for his native Croatian National team in the 2016 Olympics. Following that, he immediately packed his belongings and arrived to the NBA, where he would begin to train for the NBA. New life. He faced a new language. New country.
Despite the steep climb of acclimating to the new role in a new basketball league, Saric remained focused, humble, and dedicated. Perhaps it was the elation of his initial preseason games which cause his focus to blink, even for a moment.
Perhaps it was simply the aggregate effect of so much changing so rapidly.
Whatever the cause, Saric came out of the gates rusty and struggling. Ersan Ilyasova’s would afford the team a veteran presence at the power forward position while Saric worked through his early season jitters. Or so was the plan…